Hyundai Motor Announces Open Innovation Partnership with Brown University to Enhance Future Mobility

Hyundai Motors is a company set on being among the industry players that will determine the future of motor vehicles. As a result, the firm is dedicated to promoting sustainability and eco-friendly technologies globally. In fact, its latest partnership with Brown University seeks to shape the future of mobility. Since its inception in 1967, the firm has been successfully producing high-quality automobiles and distributing them in the global market. Currently, the company has dedicated its financial resources towards promoting sustainability and fighting greenhouse gas emissions by producing eco-friendly vehicles. The company has active operations in over 200 countries. It is also a global employer of close to 110,000 people. As an innovator, the company leads the way in the pursuit of innovation for future mobility. In light of this, it developed the first ever hydrogen-powered SUV, NEXO, which is an eco-friendly car.

The company announced that it had reached an agreement to enter into a partnership with Brown University in its efforts to promote innovation and inventions. The firm entered the partnership with the institution through a project named 'Hyundai Visionary Challenge.' The project is part of the open innovation blueprint that will guide the company's role in the determination of the future mobility industry. The company aims to achieve great capabilities cutting across different industries with their latest collaboration with the university.

The partnership between the car manufacturer and the learning institution will focus on the development of future mobility solutions. The company expects that their partnership will lead to the invention of biologically inspired mobility, digital phenotyping, and human-machine collaborations. The car manufacturer believes that the project will position it as a leader in the Industrial Revolution using disruptive innovations that will capitalize on professional knowledge across different fields while using the insightful and creative ideas from the institution's professionals.

The company and Brown University's flagship project, 'the 2018 Hyundai Visionary Challenge,' is set to be on the forefront of the manufacturer's strategic plans, which include creating an open innovation project. The project's vision is to develop active collaborations within the untapped industries with the possibility of identifying new innovative and creative ideas that will accelerate the development of future mobility technologies.

The project is being fast-tracked by 80 people who were selected from 17 teams. The group of 80 comprises of professionals such as professors, graduates, and undergraduate students who took an active role in this years' Visionary Challenge. At the end of the 2018 Visionary Challenge, four participants were declared winners in the 3rd edition of the Mobility Innovator's Forum. The 3rd Mobility Innovator's Forum was held in Silicon Valley on 16 November 2017. The winners received cash awards alongside an opportunity to receive an industry-academic research partnership with the manufacturer based on the winning ideas. The foundation is also coming up with the winners' startup businesses.

The individuals who won the 3rd edition of the Mobility Innovator's Forum included Alberto Bortoni et al who presented the robust bat-inspired aerial robotics project and Brittany Baxter et al who presented a pedestrians to pilots project. The other winners were David Whitney et al with a project that aimed at improving man-machine partnerships through mixed reality feedback and Aarit Ahuja et al with the biometrics-based feedback designed to improve rider trust. According to the manufacturer, there are plans to increase its partnerships with learning institutions in the future. This means that the current collaboration is just the beginning of a long-term organizational strategy.

The manufacturer believes that its future partnerships will aim at ensuring that the company can diversify its research projects under the Visionary Challenge that is set to work as a reputable open innovation platform. The company aims at using its Visionary Challenge as an opening to foster further mutual research and cooperation with its global partners cutting across different industries. The company believes that such partnerships with global firms are necessary in ensuring that it can generate new ideas on the future of mobility through innovation and invention and expanding its human resource for knowledge sharing. Through the partnerships, the firm also seeks to create a sustainable mobile-based and online platform for sharing ideas and improve the company's reputation in the global market. Each of the partnerships will expose the firm to new resources and increase its chances of achieving its objectives.

Apart from its collaboration with Brown University, the company has already signed a global consortium Memorandum of Understanding with other global learning institutions. For instance, the company has already signed a working MoU with Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and Israel Institute of Technology (Technion). According to the manufacturer, each of these partnerships will help the firm to facilitate its efforts towards becoming a leader in rolling out innovations and inventions that will define the future of mobility.